Faith, hope, and love

Colossians 1:1-5 (NIV)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:   Grace and peace to you from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven…….

Faith, hope, and love are three lasting virtues that Paul wrote about to conclude his famous chapter on Christian love in I Corinthians 13.  These three virtues were part of Paul’s letters to other churches, e.g. Col 1:1-5, but also Gal 5:5-6, Eph 1:15-18, Thess 1:3, and I Tim 4:10-12.  They represent a triumvirate guideline….no, even stronger……authority from which Christians should live their lives.   While we use faith, hope, and love in everyday communication, these three words are deeply spiritual words; that is, they relate to qualities of the inner person that are manifested in our outer person behavior. 

Think of a person(s) in your life who you believe exemplifies the life of a person of faith.  How about a person who exemplifies a person of hope?  The same question for a person who exemplifies love.  Might the same person exemplify all three virtues?  Perhaps, yes, because these three virtues are related to one another.  In fact, every Christian person who is filled with the Holy Spirit will be an example of faith, hope, and love.  The key here is being filled with the Spirit, not having the Spirit quenched through sins of omission or grieved through sin with sins of commission.  Faith, hope, and love are the ultimate and eternal spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit.  In I Cor 12 where Paul writes about spiritual gifts, these gifts are not the “greater” gifts (I Cor 12:31) and eventually will be “done away” (I Cor 13:8-10).  Faith, hope, and love last forever.

Paul described God’s people in Colossae as faithful, hopeful, and loving.  A word he also uses in this passage that covers faith, hope and love is the word “holy”.  The original Hebrew word Paul used that is translated “holy people” is the same word used to describe “saints” (“hagios”).  A very important word in the New Testament, used 229 times to describe people, places, covenants, and the Holy Spirit.  To be holy is to be faithful, hopeful, and loving.  Would Paul describe your church---the people who belong to your church---as holy?  Does your church membership show faith, hope, and love?

You can only control how holy you are, not someone else.  And, of course, you are not to be “holier than thou”.  You are to practice disciplines that strengthen your faith, hope, and love.  Bible study, praying for the Lord to fill you daily with the Holy Spirit after asking for forgiveness of your sins, and practicing what the Bible teaches are the primary disciplines that will strengthen your faith, hope, and love.

Without faith, hope, and love, you have nothing.  With them, you have everything.  Faith is the assurance of things hoped for (Heb 11:1) and love never fails (I Cor 13:8).  How would you describe right now the depth of your faith, the height of your hope, and the width of your love?  How can you give gifts of faith, hope, and love to others in your church and in your life?